


Bound to be a Loss

by SlightlyApathetic



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, BAMF Stiles, Bad Friend Lydia Martin, Derek Hale is Not Emotionally Constipated, Drugs, Emissary Stiles Stilinski, Established Relationship, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Female Stiles Stilinski, Heartbreak, Jealousy, Magical Olympics, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Mates, Sterek endgame, Vampire Diaries References, but not really, more like the Triwizard Tournament
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-29 21:07:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17815532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlightlyApathetic/pseuds/SlightlyApathetic
Summary: “I get the plan, I really do. Lydia is as spot on and pragmatic as usual and this probably is the best possible option,” Stiles took a deep breath and tried really hard not to let any of her sadness seep in through her words which would make the glamour that she had conjured around her useless, “but knowing it and wanting to watch it happen are two different things. I can’t watch you fawn over some other girl, you can’t ask that of me.”Or: the pack needs alliances and the best option is using Derek as bait so that other packs think that an alliance through marriage is on the horizon. Stiles, sweet overthinking Stiles, has come to her own realization that a real marriage is the best option for the pack’s ensured survival and removing herself from the equation is the only way she thinks she can convince Derek to let that happen.





	1. I Was the Type of Person That Held Onto Things Too Tight

“God Derek,” Stiles breathed out after she woke to find Derek not right beside her like he usually was but instead nestled in between the valley between her thighs giving her a more than pleasant wake up.

Derek took a brief pause in his ministrations to look up at her with a smirk, “You can call me either one.” Stiles laughed at him but responded by pushing his head back down so that he could finish what he started.

Ten minutes later when he had succeeded in making Stiles cum two times, Derek pulled his body up to cover her and placed a gentle kiss on her lips that made her see stars (again) at how completely and wholly she loved this man.

Derek pulled back and stared down at her with a soft smile, “Good morning babe.”

“Good morning Alpha,” his eyes flashed for a second like they always did when she used his honorific. He had a total power kink and she loved it almost as much as he did, “whatever did I do to warrant such a pleasant wake up call? Is this what you do for all the girls that sleep over?”

He laughed at her and kissed her again before replying, “I woke up and just couldn’t resist you. I think you’ll find that there are many, many things I do for you that I’ve never done for anyone else.” Well now her insides were mush, completely melted by the dopey romantic crap that no one would have believed Derek Hale was capable of before they saw him around Stiles. She maintained that they had just never seen him in a real relationship before but everyone was sure that this particular brand of romance was reserved all for Stiles.

“Well when you put it like that, it would be rude of me not to reciprocate,” she pushed Derek off of her and on to his back and started to kiss her way down his chest before he pulled her back up. She raised a brow at him in question.

  
“I, uh,” he looked a little embarrassed, “I’m already taken care of. The second time you came…” he trailed off and Stiles wanted to devour him. Despite them dating for four months and having done very kinky stuff to each other in the name of science, Derek still got embarrassed when talking about sex. Stiles supposed that it made sense considering before her he had never really had a healthy sex life with anyone and one-night stands didn’t really allow for a lot of bed talk. It was insane with Derek looking like he did, but that wasn’t something that he could really control and he was still a dork at heart.

“That is so fucking hot,” Stiles placed a not so gentle kiss on his lips and then started making her way to the bathroom, throwing a, “if you don’t get in here with me than I’ll just have to pretend you are and you’ll be forced to take care of yourself,” over her shoulder. She quickly shed her remaining clothes before hopping in the shower, pleased to find that she wasn’t alone for long.  
After that, well there wasn’t a lot to discuss.

It wasn’t until they were drying off that Stiles checked her phone and saw what had probably woke Derek up. He was sensitive to any sort of alarm or ding from a phone and Stiles had a few messages from Lydia warning her to be presentable around 11 because she was calling a pack meeting at the house. Looking at the time, she realized that she had about ten minutes before Lydia arrived with the rest of the pack because they all knew to be perfectly punctual when Lydia called for a meeting.

“Lydia and the rest of the pack are coming over for an impromptu meeting in about ten minutes. She didn’t say for what but it’s Lydia,” that was all the explanation Derek needed before nodding and getting dressed as quickly as he could before going to the kitchen to put a pot of coffee on. It may be almost 11, but it was 11 on a Saturday so everyone besides Lydia and Jackson would still be in the early stages of their morning.

It wasn’t long before everyone arrived and made their way to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee before finding a place in the living room to hear what Lydia had to say.

“I understand that this is a little early for most of you so I’ll be as concise as possible: we can’t keep doing this alone and I have a solution,” Lydia was never one to mince words and everyone knew what the problem was. The pack was being stretched thin, with everyone off at college most of the time and juggling their studies with protecting an entire town and having a life and keeping their jobs. It was too much, and Allison still had a cut on her arm that was healing from pixie venom. It had almost been the end of her, but Stiles had found a spell to drain all of the venom and stop Allison from calcifying. None of them could look at statues the same knowing that any one of them could be an unfortunate victim of a pixie, “we need to start courting other packs and the best way to do so is to use Derek as bait.” Stiles’ heart did not plummet, no matter what her body thought.

“What?” thankfully it was Derek and not her that spoke because she was certain that her voice would have come out several octaves too high.

Lydia gave him a placating look that didn’t hide that she thought he was being slow, “You’re the Alpha and a Hale at that. Many packs would jump at the chance of marrying in and we’re going to use that to draw them in and get alliance agreements signed.” A terrible thought started forming in Stiles’ head but she pushed it back for now. Now was not the time to freak out. She slid a hand down the side of face and slid a glamour on so that the wolves could no longer smell her emotions. She liked her privacy to feel what she wanted thank you very much and the wolves had no sense of personal bubbles and thoughts. If they thought she was freaking out they would laugh at her and she wasn’t in a laughing mood.  
“Marrying?” now it was Derek’s voice that was coming out a little too high and he reached out and grabbed Stiles’ hand a little to tight, “Why would I marry anyone? And why can’t any of you be the bait?” Scott shifted a little bit and frowned, showing that he was less than okay with the idea.

Lydia blinked slowing before replying, “You wouldn’t actually be marrying anyone. You just have to make them think that marriage is on the table. We can start with one pack and go from there. And none of us would be as appealing as you, not to mention that there is no way certain individuals could pull this off.” Her eyes shifted to Scott who only nodded in agreement.

“Who says that I can pull this off?” Derek’s grip got a little tighter and Stiles had to force herself not to let out any sounds of pain.

“You’re Derek Hale, bad boy extraordinaire. You just have to be distant and wear leather and maybe throw someone against a wall. That’s how you got Stiles, isn’t it?” Jackson smirked at everyone and got a few laughs.

Stiles laughed a moment after everyone, and if it was little bitter no one seemed to notice, “Well, he’s not wrong. Ten out of ten, would fall again,” she smiled at Derek to make it seem like she didn’t completely hate the idea. He started back at her and looked a little confused, searching her eyes for anything off. But Stiles ran with wolves, she knew how to keep her emotions locked down.

“See,” Lydia sounded a little too triumphant, “Stiles gets it. This is the best method we have and I already have a pack in mind. I’ve already contacted them and they’re sending the Alpha’s daughter in a week.” It was well known that if Stiles agreed to something than Derek wasn’t far behind. And it seemed like Stiles agreed. Didn’t she?

_You don’t hate Lydia. You don’t hate Lydia._ Stiles had to keep repeating it in her head before her spark decided to do something silly like set Lydia’s clothes on fire.

“Which pack?” Cora was the one to ask from the comfort of Isaac’s lap. Comfort that she had from knowing that it wasn’t her relationship that had to put on hold so that her boyfriend could woo someone else.

“The Thornwood pack. They’re originally from Ireland and they’re the real deal. They have connections that we can’t even dream of right now and just securing them would be enough to start with.” Cora and Derek nodded, knowing from their childhood the type of prestige the Thornwood pack had.

“How did you convince them then?” Isaac looked a little skeptical.

“I simply confirmed that some of the rumors about us were more than just rumors. We’re a bit of a legend.” There were some whoops and back hitting at that, everyone proud to still be standing after all that had been through.  
Derek remained still and finally let go of Stiles’ hand to flex his own, “If we’re so legendary, why do we need to pretend to court anyone? Why can’t they align themselves without all of what you’re suggesting?”

“No one wants to bind themselves to people they aren’t invested in. We need to give the Thornwood’s a reason to tie themselves, even if that reason is a ruse.”  
“It makes sense,” Cora said in the silence after, “and we wouldn’t have to worry so much about being called to protect them because they rarely get attacked.” Everyone started making sounds of agreement but Stiles knew that Derek was waiting on her. He wouldn’t make a decision if he thought she was against it, not something that relied to heavily on the two of them.

“Of course it makes sense, it was Lydia’s idea,” Stiles smirked at the girl in a way that didn’t betray how angry she was at the girl for just springing this on them, “And there is no way that the alpha’s daughter won’t want to tie herself to Derek. It helps that she’s his only girl so he’ll be more inclined to give her what she wants,” everyone looked at her in surprise, “I am an emissary guys, I do have to know these things. Actually, I’m surprised that you decided to make the call, Lydia, considering it’s normally the emissary’s job to foster alliances and act as the messenger between packs.”

“I thought about that, but I didn’t want to risk you giving anything away considering how invested you are in this. Besides, can you really tell me that you could call another pack asking someone else to come date Derek? You might have ruined it.” And there came the sympathetic looks from the pack that Stiles wanted nothing to do with.

“Ha, now Stilinski has to keep her hands off of Hale! It’s about time. Don’t worry, he’ll probably come back to you.” Despite the glare Lydia sent his way, Jackson continued to smirk at Stiles and she had to hold back her spark from doing anything that would make them think she really was as emotionally unstable as they were accusing her of.

Derek let out a growl of warning, but Stiles placed her hand on his to calm him down, “Cool. So as long as we all understand the plan, the first step is probably to start getting my scent out of Derek’s apartment and make sure that there’s nothing left that shows us in a relationship.” Lydia nodded in agreement like she had already thought of that, which she probably had.  
“Stiles,” Derek gripped her hand back and looked at her questioningly again. “Are you sure about this?”

Stiles smiled at him but knew it didn’t reach her eyes, “I think it makes a lot of sense and I’d hate to cost the pack any sort of protection. The final vote is up to you as the Alpha though. You need to make the best decision for the pack, and I trust that you will.” _Please choose me, please don’t do this to us._ She was screaming in her head, but her glamour held strong and none of the wolves knew just how frantically her heart was beating.

He squeezed her hand and nodded once before speaking, “Alright. The pack does need alliances and I understand the plan. But we don’t need to start deep cleaning the house or changing anything until the day before.”  
“Actually,” Lydia cut in, “We never know if she might show up early. I would. And you and Stiles need to start trying to make it seems like you aren’t completely gone on each other. Some separation will do you two some good anyways.” _You do not hate Lydia. You do not hate Lydia._

Derek looked like he was about to protest so Stiles jumped in before he could, “Compromise. We’ll start tomorrow and we’ll all use tonight as a last hurrah before the charade begins. Let’s all go out to a club and have some fun knowing that we’re about to do something good for the pack.” Erica especially seemed to like the idea and everyone split up with the plan to meet at the club at 10.  
Which left Stiles alone with Derek. He tried to talk to her but she was anything but ready for that conversation so she made an excuse before bolting out of the house and making a mental list of all of the places she needed to go. She had a plan. And she needed to be someone away from Derek when thinking about her plan made her cry.

Stiles knew she was being silly, maybe even having an overreaction, but it wasn’t everyday you realized that saving your pack meant giving up the one thing you loved most in the world. Maybe Lydia meant to start with a pretend courting, but Stiles knew that it wouldn’t be long before there was a pack that would only align with them with an actual courtship between Derek and one of their own. And Derek was the sort of alpha that cared about his pack’s safety before everything else. Even if he liked to pretend that Stiles came first, she knew that he had lost too much, given up too much, to not deserve the protected pack of his dreams that was stable in all aspects. The relief he had over finally having roots and no longer having to look over his shoulder would outweigh any sort of hurt he felt when he thought about the spastic human he used to love. Especially considering they hadn’t even used that word with each other yet.  
Never would, Stiles supposed.

Hours later when 10 o’clock came around and the pack was meeting at the club Stiles knew that there was one thing she had to do before separating herself. It was petty and a violation, but she wanted everyone to understand just where she was coming from when she decided to leave.

She kissed Derek on the mouth and brushed away his concern by leading everyone over to the bar. She grasped Derek’s hand and placed a kiss on it while they were waiting for their drinks. She steered the conversation towards something light hearted but had no clue what she was actually saying because her mind was already a week into the future.

Well, not literally because that type of magic took a lot of her but she didn’t need magic to imagine what it would be like.

Their drinks arrived and Stiles threw her shot of tequila back before letting go of Derek’s hand and making her way onto the dance floor. Scoping it out, she found her chosen minions and used her spark to take control of them and Lydia, Cora, Boyd, and Allison. She made her chosen people make their way to her and cast a sticking charm on the rest of the pack so that they couldn’t move. Using powers of suggestion, she made those on the dance floor start dancing and flirting and found some nobody for her to partner with. She could feel everyone’s confusion and hurt through the pack bonds but pushed that away.

She was making a point.

A rude, awful point, but a point nonetheless.

After about fifteen minutes of grinding and flirting, Stiles released everyone and made her way back to the bar where the threw back the other shot she ordered and made her way out of the bar and to her jeep. She released the sticking charm as soon as she put her foot the gas and tried to pretend that she felt justified about what she just did.

It wasn’t long before the pack were all back at Derek’s loft looking for her. Looking for answers.

“What the hell was that, Stilinski?” Jackson was the first through the door. He made to advance on her but couldn’t get pass the wards she had placed around her. She had set them up to keep Derek away from her, sure that a single touch from him would have her crying like some pathetic girl who was breaking up with her boyfriend. Oh wait…

The rest of the pack circled around her and it looked like they had all found the edges of her wards. She pretended that she didn’t see the hurt look on Derek’s face.

“You can’t hold those up forever, Stiles. What was that?” an interrogation from Lydia was nothing to laugh at.

Looking around, Stiles noticed that all of the couples were holding on to each other a little more than normal, like something had just happened to make them feel insecure about their relationships.

“I was proving a point. You want Derek and I to pretend to not be in a relationship. You want Derek to court someone else. I get it, it’s smart. I am completely going along with it, but I needed to make sure you understand what you’re asking of me. What you went through tonight, what I made you go through, is nothing compared to the month or so long courtship I’m about to go through. So any jokes you want to make at my expense aren’t welcome.”

It was silent before Jackson scoffed, “Whatever Stilinski.” And there she was again, surrounded by sympathetic faces that she wanted far away from her.

“I understand why you did it but you had no right just taking advantage of all of us.” Lydia was right to be angry but Stiles didn’t care.

“I know, it’s almost like I thought of a plan that would be good for the pack and then went ahead without consulting anyone before springing it on all of you without warning. But that would be rude, wouldn’t it?” She said that it was a petty plan.

Lydia narrowed her eyes and was about to respond with something sure to be scathing before Derek took control of the situation. Look, it’s late and we have a lot to do so everyone needs to go home. Now.” His eyes flashed alpha red and everyone left without an argument.

Stiles was along with Derek again, only this time there was nowhere left for her to run.

She could feel his gaze on her but was determined to wait him out. After five minutes of silence Derek let out a loud sigh and she knew that she had won. If only she wanted the prize.

“I thought you agreed with the plan.” He sounded tired.

“I get the plan, I really do. Lydia is as spot on and pragmatic as usual and this probably is the best possible option,” Stiles took a deep breath and tried really hard not to let any of her sadness seep in through her words which would make the glamour that she had conjured around her useless, “but knowing it and wanting to watch it happen are two different things. I can’t watch you fawn over some other girl, you can’t ask that of me.”

“I’m not asking it.” Derek sounded mad now, which was good because relationships were easier to end when people were mad, “I didn’t even want to follow the stupid plan but you agreed and the pack agreed and Lydia already arranged everything. You and I both know that cancelling would be seen as an insult.”

“I know that. Like I said, I get it all, I really do. I just wanted to show you why I can’t stay here during the courtship.” Derek’s eyes widened and he tried to step closer than the wards allowed which meant he went nowhere because Stiles could craft a damn good ward when she wanted to.

“You can’t go!” he started flexing his hands again.

“You felt uncomfortable tonight right? Watching me with whoever that man was, it made you uncomfortable didn’t it? Maybe it made you a little mad, a little jealous, it may have even made you sad but in either case you weren’t happy. Do you really want to do that to me for a month?”

“I… no, but I need you Stiles. You’re my emissary this is literally your job.”

“It looks like Lydia has it under control. Anyways, it’s only a month, Derek. Just think of the reunion sex,” she smirked at him and was thankful for all of those moments she had spent practicing expressions in front of a mirror when she was in high school. She knew that with her glamour in place she could make the wolf think she really was as pragmatic about the situation as she said Lydia was.

His eyes flashed red again and she knew that she could easily convince him to spend the night doing something much more important than talking. So she dropped her wards, took of running towards the bedroom, and did exactly that.

  
And if she was a little more desperate than normal and focused on Derek’s pleasure a little too much wanting to make sure that it was more than great for him, Derek attributed it to her being emotional. He wasn’t exactly wrong, and it wasn’t his fault he didn’t know what break up sex felt like.


	2. Worth the Pain it Takes

Stiles was gone before Derek woke up. She had spent the night watching him sleep and thinking back on everything good about their relationship. And there was a lot of good. When she checked her phone and saw that it was 4 a.m. she knew that it was time to go. She cast a silencing bubble around Derek and proceeded to pack all of her essentials before making her way to Derek one last time. She put a kiss on his forehead before writing and leaving a note on his side table.

  
She made it to her jeep and across the town boarders before she began to cry.

She felt the wards that she had placed yesterday flare for a moment as she crossed them and she knew that the pack would be safe from people with malicious intent, but she didn’t like leaving them all the same.

  
As soon as she got herself back under control, she used her spark to poke at the ambient magic that surrounded the world. She hadn’t really planned where she would go when she left. She just figured that there would be some magic somewhere that would call to her. And there was, right at the edge of her consciousness she could sense something interesting happening in… New Mexico. Alright, it looked like Stiles was going to New Mexico.

 

Derek woke up alone. He never woke up alone. Stiles slept in, she hated waking up early. She called it sacrilegious. So, ever since she moved in two months ago, he never woke up alone.

So why was he alone now?

From her scent, he could tell that she had been gone for a couple of hours. It was 8 o’clock on a Sunday, she was never up at this time.  
Derek wasn’t blind. He knew that she had been off yesterday and that she didn’t want to watch him be with someone else. He didn’t want to be with someone else. But she had seemed to agree with the idea and Stiles was never one to run from trouble. Sure, she said that she was going to leave but he thought he could change her mind. He thought that he would at least have a couple more days before she left.

His phone buzzed and he looked over at his night stand to see that there was a note left in Stiles’ handwriting.

 _Derek,_   
_I couldn’t make you watch me leave just like I couldn’t make myself watch you with someone else. Don’t worry, it’ll be over before you know it and the sex is bound to be amazing. I love you, and I know that you’ll be the same charming alpha that won me over and secure the alliance for our pack. Don’t forget the leather jacket,_   
_Love,_   
_Stiles_

She said that she loved him. She was gone, and she said that she loved him. He had been holding back from saying it after how quickly he asked her to move in with him but she said it. She felt it. Derek couldn’t wait to finally get to say it to her. He just had to get the stupid fake courtship over with first. Maybe he could even convince Stiles to let him have a real courtship when she came back. It was a bit late in their relationship to ask, but the romance about it all was something that ordinary relationships didn’t have. And if it happened to end in a proposal, well you couldn’t blame him from wanting to put a ring on it.

  
Before Derek could get too lost in imaging his future with Stiles, he phone buzzed again and he looked over to see that Lydia had messaged him.

From: Lydia  
We’ll be over in an hour to start overhauling the loft so tell Stiles to start packing up her stuff. She’s not responding.

From: Lydia  
Just got a hold of Stiles so you’ll have to pack up the rest of her stuff.

The rest? He got out of bed to check the closet and saw that Stiles’ favorite hoodie was gone along with her combat boots. He checked the bathroom and saw that her toothbrush was gone too.

He knew that she was gone, he understood the note, but actually seeing her absence made him feel a little empty. And he was supposed to hide all traces of her.

  
Today was going to be terrible.

And it was. As soon as Lydia arrived she started acting as commander and ordering every surface scrubbed and every fabric washed. By the end of the day the loft smelled like cleaning chemicals and all the Stiles memorabilia was gone. He wasn’t even allowed to keep his favorite picture of them on his bedside despite telling Lydia that there was no way things were going to get so far that the other girl was going to be in his room. She even made him change his lock screen picture.

“Okay, I’ve been assured that the loft smells brand new so now it’s time to get all of the pack scents back. We’ll have to hang out for a couple days that means a pack night or two so I hope everyone brought their night clothes like I said to.” At everyone’s nod Lydia smiled, “Good. Now I just have a phone call to make and then we can start movie night.”  
Derek didn’t want anyone to spend the night. He just wanted some time to come to terms with Stiles’ absence but he knew that there was nothing to wallow over. Stiles was coming back.

Maybe a pack night to get his mind off of everything was a good idea. Lydia probably didn’t want him alone with his thoughts. Smart.

Thinking about her, he tuned into Lydia to see what she was up when he heard Stiles’ voice.

“I’m not telling you where I am and that’s final. Call me overdramatic if you want. I picked you because you seem more than willing to act as emissary and I know you won’t let anything get in the way of success.”

“You’re right, which is why the only way I’ll do this is if you only contact me. Meaning, no Derek. I know you Stiles, and I know that if you get lonely you might let your emotions get in the way of the pack. We can’t have you crying to Derek and making him do something crazy like ending the courtship. Besides, you two haven’t been together that long and if you can’t survive this break, maybe that’s the sign you need to do something else.”

“Maybe you’re right, maybe you’re wrong. I agree to your terms and I expect to be informed of what’s going on. I have to go, bye.”

Derek felt a sinking in his chest. As mad as he was at Lydia, he was sad more than anything that Stiles thought there was a chance that they might not make it through the month. They would, he knew they would. If there was anything he was certain of in this world, it was that pixies suck and Stiles was the love of his life. He had a month to find the perfect way to show that to her. Because Stiles was right, he did need to do what he could for the pack, but once this terrible idea was over he was going to make it so that no one could ever question his relationship with Stiles and no one would believe a plan like Lydia’s would work.

After a couple days of pack bonding the loft smelled well lived in and Derek could hear Lydia’s car pulling up with an unknown scent. It was time to start a fake courtship.

He opened the door as soon as he heard Lydia and the girl step close enough and looked at the girl that drove Stiles away. That wasn’t fair, he knew, and if anyone could be called that it was Lydia. But he had to live with Lydia in his life, this other girl was just going to be a blip on the radar.

He smiled at her with what Stiles called his alpha charm and tried to imagine it was her he was looking at.

“Alpha Hale,” Lydia started, “meet Hayley Thornwood.”

He raised his hand to take Hayley’s and pressed a kiss to the back of it. It was the kind of thing that Stiles would laugh at before kissing him for being ridiculous, “It’s a pleasure to meet you Miss Thornwood.”

A blush rose to her cheeks before she shyly drew her hand back, “Likewise Alpha Hale.”

“Oh, call him Derek. We’re all friends here.” Lydia once again inserted herself into Derek’s relationships.

“Of course, Derek,” Hayley smiled sweetly up at him, making eye contact very briefly before looking down. She was sweet and blonde and beautiful, but Derek had a thing for mouthy brunettes that made his knees weak and called him charming and ridiculous with the same fond tone.

Lydia ushered them all inside and started introducing Hayley to everyone. She was acting every bit the alpha female she wasn’t and a part of Derek bristled at seeing her.

He watched them silently before tuning back in when he heard his name, “I’m sure Derek wouldn’t mind you staying here with him. Between you and me, he’s been a bit lonely lately and I’m sure he would love the company.”

“I don’t want to impose,” Hayley didn’t look opposed to the idea herself.

“Derek,” Lydia called to him and he walked over as if he had no clue what she was about to ask, “You don’t mind if Hayley stays here during her visit, do you?”

He made it a point to make eye contact with Hayley and smiled, “I would be honored, Miss Thornwood.”

“Hayley, please.”

“Hayley.”

Lydia once again took over and started showing Hayley to the room closest to Derek’s and ordering Jackson to get her bags.

This was going to be a long month.

 

After the fifteen-hour drive Stiles was wiped. All she wanted was somewhere to lay her head and a bathroom. She made it to a motel and checked in, too tired to notice the supernaturally blue eyes staring suspiciously at her. She used the restroom, put her head on the pillow, and knocked out.

When she was finally conscious enough to scan her environment, she was pleased to find that the something that had drawn her to New Mexico was close. Very close. Right by the motel.

Stiles prepared herself in her favorite red hoodie and her combat boots that made her feel a bit Buffy and made her way to the source of the magic.

She heard the growling before she saw the coyote. It was bigger than regular coyotes and if that didn’t give it away than the unnatural blue eyes did. It stared suspiciously at her but Stiles didn’t have to be close to use her spark and connect with the girl inside the beast. A girl that was asking to be let free.

So, Stiles let her free. A bit reckless, but she was going through a heartbreak.

Moments later, in place of the coyote was a naked, brunette girl that looked like she needed a nice wash and a good meal. It wasn’t like Stiles had anything better to do.

“I’m Stiles, and I think I can help you,” that didn’t clear any of the suspicion in the girl’s eyes, but she followed Stiles nonetheless.

It was a bit difficult to convince the girl to take a shower but she desperately needed one and Stiles was not budging on it. Stiles left some clothes on the counter and wasn’t surprised when the girl came out without them on.

“Clothes,” the girl tilted her head and looked at Stiles weirdly, “You have to put clothes on if you want to blend in. And you seem like a girl with a mission that requires blending in.” Stiles had refrained from digging around too much in the girl’s head, all she had checked on was whether or not the girl meant Stiles any harm.

She still looked confused so Stiles went and grabbed the clothes before showing them to her and helping her put them on. It was another battle of wills but Stiles was determined and they weren’t hurting the girl so she didn’t fight too much. She did tug at them a bit when they were on her but didn’t try to take them off so there were small mercies.

“Do you know your name?”

The girl made an awkward face before saying, “Malia,” in a voice that screamed disuse.

“Alright Malia, how can I help you?”

“I… I need to kill my mother,” well alright then.

“Why?” Stiles had seen too much to be immediately against the idea.

“She’s trying to kill me,” Malia coughed a bit and Stiles grabbed the complementary paper cup and got her some tap water. Malia drank it immediately and demanded more which Stiles had no problem getting for her. It wasn’t everyday someone transformed back into a human after being a coyote for years.

“Why is she trying to kill you?” just because Stiles wasn’t immediately against the idea didn’t mean she didn’t need more information.

“I don’t know. I… how did you turn me back? Why do you smell like lightening?”

“The smell is probably my spark, It gives the ability to do… well anything really if I try hard enough. I wanted you to be human again and so you were. I mean, it probably wouldn’t work on a regular coyote, but you are part human and you wanted to be human so it was possible.”

“You have to help me.” Malia’s eyes flared at her and maybe if Stiles wasn’t used to the red of Derek’s she would have been alarmed but Stiles couldn’t handle this. She wasn’t the same skinny, defenseless nobody that got Scott bit. She had magic now dammit, so she wasn’t scared.

“I might help you,” Stiles conceded, “if you explain it all to me and tell me what you plan to do once your mom is dead.”

Malia growled, but, again, Stiles was old hat at being intimidated, “My family died in a car crash. I visited the crash and this woman started trying to kill me. She smelled like me. I ran away and found a pack of regular coyotes to hide with. They covered my scent for a bit but she found my again. She could change when she wanted and I couldn’t. Now I can. I have to kill her before she kills me.”

“Okay then, this shouldn’t be too hard. Is she a coyote too?” Malia nodded, “Well at least we know what we’re up against. I can cast a spell using your blood and it will lead us to your mom.”

“Now.”

“You’ve been human for less than a day, are you sure you don’t need time to prepare?” another growl, “Alright then, let me get some stuff from my car and we can get started.”  
It wasn’t a hard spell and really only required a map and some type of knife. Stiles didn’t just have a map of New Mexico lying around though and Malia didn’t seem like she would wait so Stiles decided to just see what happened. She was hoping that it would create the same awareness she used to find Malia who had been mentally screaming at anyone who would help.

When she walked towards Malia with the knife she got another growl and decided that this wasn’t a fight that she had to win. She told Malia that she could do it herself as long as she mixed it with Stiles’. Which, yeah gross and disease but Stiles really was just making it all up as she went along. She was trying to use her blood as a binding agent to tie the spell to her consciousness but it was all guess work.

Once both girls were bleeding and the blood had been mixed, Stiles used her spark to cast the blood link spell. And… there! It was surprising close but Stiles supposed that the woman was hunting Malia so it’s not like she would be far off.

“Okay, I got it. We can go now but only if you’re absolutely sure.” Malia just walked out of the door. Rude, but understandable giving that the woman was trying to kill her. Stiles wouldn’t want a threat around any longer than necessary either.

Malia didn’t love the idea of a car ride but Stiles was the only one that knew where to go and she was not walking.

There was about ten minutes of silence before Malia broke it, “How did you find me?”

“I was running from my own problems and they led me to here. Next thing I know, I sensed you screaming out and I decided to use your problems to distract me from my own.” Not entirely true, but Stiles didn’t think telling her that Stiles came for the sole purpose of finding her would go down well. Malia was suspicious enough as it was.

“You smell like wolves.”

“I’m part of a pack of werewolves and a banshee and a kanima and a me. It’s complicated and surprisingly simple.” Malia just grunted, “You still haven’t told me what you plan to do when this is over. Now that you’re human again.” Another grunt.

There wasn’t much talk after that aside from Malia occasionally asking about something they passed. At least she was curious about the human world, that had to be a good sign for her to rejoin it.

Another fifteen minutes and Stiles pulled into the parking lot of a rather nice apartment complex. Not where she would have guessed a filicidal mom would be camped out, but she wasn’t going to try and relate to the woman.

She had to hold Malia back from rushing in, convincing her that they would be stronger if they worked together.

Stiles masked their presence with her spark and led Malia to the apartment that she felt drawn to. She spelled the door open and was absolutely shocked at what she found behind it.

Sitting on a chair looking as alive as ever was Peter fucking Hale. Peter fucking Hale.  
How was this her life?

Unlike how anyone rational would respond, he merely raised an eyebrow at their sudden appearance and slowly lowered his book down. The asshole, “Stiles, what an unexpected surprise. Who’s your friend?”

Oh no. If Malia’s mother wasn’t here, and Stiles could tell that there was no one else in the apartment, then that meant only one thing: Malia was related to the spawn of Satan himself.

Stiles closed her eyes and took a deep breath, “Please tell me that there is no way she’s your daughter.” She opened her eyes at the sound of Peter coughing.

“Excuse me?”

“I did a spell to find her mom, or any relative, and we found you.” The _unfortunately_ was unsaid but not unheard.

“I… well never say never. Who’s your mother?”

Malia, as chatty as ever, said, “He smells like me too.”

Damn, “Her mother is trying to kill her so excuse Malia for not sticking around to get her life story.”

“Well she must have some sort of clue-” Stiles tuned whatever else Peter had to say out as she felt something tingling on the edge of her consciousness. Someone was thinking a lot of malicious thoughts at them and Stiles had a good idea who it was.

“Malia get down!” Stiles jumped to push her over just as bullets flew into the space Malia was once standing.

“A nice day for company, I suppose,” she heard Peter murmur, “How nice to see you again Corrine.”

Stiles turned towards the door and saw a woman with the same blue eyes Malia occasionally flashed looking anything but happy.

One day, bad stuff won’t always happen to her.

Peter fucking Hale.


	3. I'd Become Someone My Heart No Longer Knew

“When were you going to tell me the good news?” there wasn’t a word for how much irritation Stiles felt at Peter’s need to make light of everything.

“Congratulations, it’s a girl,” was all Corrine said before lifting her gun again and aiming at Malia. Stiles waved her hand and erected a ward but she could only hold it for so long before the bullets became too much.

It took thirty seconds of firing before Corrine realized that she couldn’t get through that way, “You’re going to die one way or another Malia. The rest of you don’t matter to me.”

Luckily, the ward held Malia inside it just like it kept the bullets out. Malia turned on Stiles who looked at her in exasperation. You try and save someone’s life and this is how they repay you.

“Filicide isn’t a good look on you, dear.” One day he won’t come back to life.

“And fatherhood doesn’t exactly become you, Peter, we all make do with what we have.”

Malia shifted into her beta form and started advancing at her in a way that made Stiles quickly drop the ward and get away from her. Malia quickly realized it but so did her mother. The two of them rushed at each other while Peter and Stiles stood awkwardly on the sidelines.

For a man who just found out he was a father, Peter was unsurprisingly a little shocked.

Stiles didn’t have time for shock though because Corrine already had her claws literally in Malia and Stiles couldn’t figure out what to do. She saw Peter finally move and throw himself at Corrine who threw him back like he was nothing. As much as Stiles wanted to savor the moment, she knew that she had to do something to save Malia. She called Corrine’s gun to her and used her childhood as the daughter of the Sheriff to shoot Corrine. The woman fell to her knees but didn’t release Malia.

“You think I would carry around something that could hurt me?” Corrine taunted Stiles.

No.

… yes.

Needing a new plan, Stiles shot her a couple more times because even advanced healing took some time and ran at Corrine before bringing the butt of the gun down on her head. Stiles threw all of her strength and then some into the blow and was thrilled when the woman actually passed out.

She knew that she wouldn’t have much time and Malia looked like she really needed help so Stiles searched for the vial of wolfsbane that she carried on herself at most times and poured it all down Corrine’s throat. She used her spark to distribute the poison throughout the woman’s body and stepped back when she was done.

Malia was groaning but conscious. Peter was sitting up and staring at Malia in confusion and maybe… hope?

“Malia,” the girl opened her eyes and stared at Stiles with something other than suspicion. Stiles didn’t know what exactly it was but it was making her kind of uncomfortable.

“I’m going to join you. And your pack.” Stiles had asked her about her future, and she wasn’t crazy about leaving Malia alone. Or with Peter. Definitely not with Peter.

“Okay.”

“I hate to break up your moment,” he clearly didn’t, “but what are we going to do about the assassin?”

Stiles rolled her eyes at him, “You were Talia’s left hand Peter, I’m sure you can figure something out.”

“Still as clever as ever I see. And what do you suppose I do with her Stiles? Make her promise to be better? Ask the leopard to change its spots?” he was standing now. Well, leaning against the wall really. He looked at Stiles in what was clearly a challenge and she didn’t back down from challenges.

“I think we both know that leopards aren’t inclined to change, and I’m not inclined in leaving my pack members in danger. This is your home and I realize that we just barged in but you’re Malia’s sperm donor and we both know that you want to be more than that,” they didn’t both know but Stiles was strongly hoping, “so I think you can figure out a way to make sure your daughter doesn’t have to look over her shoulder for the rest of her life.” The smirk he gave her seemed tinged with approval and that wasn’t something Stiles wanted on her conscious, but she was serious about protecting Malia and her mother looked serious about killing her so… something had to be done.

Peter pushed himself off of the wall and picked up Corrine’s body and left the apartment without another word and Stiles really didn’t want to know why he felt so confident carrying a dead body in broad daylight.

Stiles felt a pain in chest and knew that this was the mate separation she had read about when she was first studying sparks. She was away from her mate and her spark could sense that she wasn’t planning on going back, hence the ache in her chest that she knew would only get bigger and more painful. Good thing she brought drugs to keep her from running right back and ruining everything like Lydia said she would.

 

Lydia was driving Derek more and more insane. After insisting that Derek needed to check the perimeter and take Hayley along with him she had been waiting for them when they got back and had an entire breakfast spread ready for the two of them. After that, she insisted that they all had to watch her favorite movie, _The Notebook_ , together but then mysteriously was needed elsewhere. As if all of that wasn’t enough, she popped up right when the movie was over and told Derek – no, demanded that he give Hayley a ride on his motorcycle because Hayley had never been on one and Derek would love to help Hayley do things she’d never done before, wouldn’t he? At one point, he wanted to tell her that if she wanted to be so involved that she should just go on the fake dates herself, but he couldn’t say things like that in front of Hayley and Hayley was always around.

To top it all off, there was this ache in his chest that wouldn’t go away, and he missed Stiles. God, he missed Stiles. It was weird and awful not having her around telling jokes and lecturing him about Sunday Funday and all the sex they were required to have on that day to make up for any they missed during the week.

Not that Hayley wouldn’t try to have sex with him if she could. He could see the way she looked at him and how she tried to touch him as much as she could. And while it maybe fluffed his ego a bit, it mostly just felt wrong and like he was cheating. He kept trying to turn to Stiles and tell her that it didn’t mean anything, until he realized that Stiles wasn’t there to turn to.

“So, I’ve heard that you can do a full transformation,” Hayley was still as shy as ever but Derek could tell that this was something someone had told her to ask. Probably Lydia. He nodded, “well, I can too and I was wondering if you wanted to go for a run together.” As much as he hated going along with another one of Lydia’s plans, he could admit that the idea was really tempting. He only ever ran with Cora in full wolf form and lately she was busy trying to teach Isaac.

So he agreed.

In wolf form, the two took off across the preserve and didn’t notice the red haired woman looking triumphant with her fingers flying across her phone’s keyboard.

 

From: Lydia

Things are going great here. Derek just took off with Hayley in wolf form and they’re having a blast. This might not take as long as I thought.

Stiles was already four hits deep from her bong and feeling so good that Lydia’s text didn’t hurt her. Much. She knew some part of her ached at the thought of someone running with Derek like she never could, but the high was great and Malia was making her way over and Stiles could only focus on one thing at a time.

“You smelled so sad before but now you don’t. What happened?” the girl sat down by Stiles and made a face at the smell but didn’t move away.

“I got high… on life,” Stiles laughed at her own joke before getting serious, “not really. I have really good weed and it helps me forget that I’m sad.”

“Why are you sad?”

“I fell in love with someone who I was supposed to be with forever. He was my true mate. But he never told me that I was his so I guess I wasn’t. He was a born wolf so he would know those things, you know? But I had to leave so that he could court someone else and it makes me want to cry because he is so perfect but it takes more than perfect to keep a relationship alive. I loved him so much. I love him so much. But our pack needs to be stronger and he has to be with someone else to make that happen. He doesn’t know that yet, he thinks it’s all pretend, but I know. And I love him enough to let him go because pack means everything to him. You’re going to love him as an alpha whenever I drop you off with him. He’s the best alpha there is.” Stiles knew that she was letting too much out, being too real, but Malia didn’t know her, not really, so she didn’t care about how emotional she was being in front of her.

“I wouldn’t say the best there is but I’ve certainly seen worse,” Peter was someone she didn’t want knowing her innermost thoughts but it was too late for that.

“You’ve been worse,” she shot back maybe a few seconds too late. She didn’t have an accurate hold on time at the moment.

“Fair,” he conceded, “but as someone who knew me back then, you should understand the effects of mental turmoil and understand that you’re being stupid.” Stiles made some sort of sound at that but she couldn’t tell what. It was supposed to be hurt, “We all have our off days dear. This is yours. I may not have seen you two together, but Derek has had it bad for you for years. My nephew isn’t the kind of man to let go of love for politics, he just doesn’t have it in him. So if you two love each other, and I am sure you do, then giving up on that love is giving up on Derek himself and I thought you cared for him more than that.”

“I love Derek,” was all Stiles could say.

“Then why are you trying to ruin his life by taking away that which he loves most?”

“… because I love him. I want him to have everything.” Stiles was too high for this conversation and he was ruining it, dammit.

“So you want to give him everything by taking away the one thing he loves most in this world? I called you clever, Stiles, don’t make me a liar.”

“Malia, control your father. Go bond or fight or something.” The coyote gave her a searching look before standing up.

“I’ll talk to him if you promise not to send me away. I don’t know your pack. You saved my life. I’m staying with you.”

“… okay.” Anything to get Peter and his knowledge away from her.

She heard them walk away but didn’t raise her head. She didn’t remember laying down but here she was. Everything would be clearer tomorrow. She just needed to sleep.

 

“I had so much fun,” Hayley whispered as they put their clothes back on together. Derek smiled at her but didn’t comment, “I’ve never seen dryads before.” There were a couple they passed by that quickly melded back into their trees when they saw someone they didn’t trust. Derek knew that they adored Stiles after she fixed the Nemeton and restored the health of the forest. They would have stayed out for her.

Drawn from his thoughts, Derek saw Hayley suddenly a lot closer than she was before.

“I know that it isn’t usual, but I don’t want to wait through the next few stages of the courtship before I give you a token of my affection,” Derek had a suspicion about what she meant and it was confirmed when he saw her start to lean in and close her eyes.

Derek had never been so happy for pain in his life.

The ache that had been present all morning suddenly flared and he was on the ground, crying out.

Hayley cried out too, out of shock rather than pain, and he could hear her making her way to the loft. She came back moments later with Lydia and both of them started trying to help him up.

“What happened?”

“I was leaning in to kiss him and he just fell down in pain.” He could hear Lydia scoff.

“Derek, there’s no need to be dramatic,” if he had the presence of mind to growl at her, he would.

“What are you talking about?”

Lydia sighed, “I think Derek is just trying to have a more traditional courtship where nothing physical happens too early and knew that kissing you would have led to a lot more.” He did manage a growl at that.

Hayley hummed before saying, “I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m pretty sure you’re wrong. I’ve seen something like this before, but it only happens with true mates. It’s called mate separation and it’s exactly what it sounds like only the pain of the separation gets worse when either mate tries to end the bond. In this case, the trigger would be kissing someone else… kissing me.”

That made a lot of sense to Derek but Lydia seemed to agree, “That’s silly, Derek doesn’t have a true mate.”

The pain finally passed enough for Derek to stand up and he looked at Lydia with every ounce of rage he had, “I think we both know that isn’t true. Only, you decided to drive her away.”

Hayley gasped, “You did what? But true mates are sacred! There are less than fifty in America right now. Alpha Hale has every right to kick you out of the pack for that.”

Lydia seemed to wilt a bit under the combined stares of Derek and Hayley.

Seeing that Lydia wasn’t going to respond, Hayley turned to Derek, “I am so sorry, Alpha Hale. I never would have accepted the courtship if I had known.” She reached out to touch him again and Derek barely had time to register the pain before he was unconscious.


	4. Some Things Aren't Meant to Last Long

“Wakey, wakey, emissary,” was sadly the first thing Stiles heard when she woke up.

She groaned before stretching and sitting up to look blearily at Peter. This was not the wake up call she was used to, but she supposed she was going to have to get used to that, “How did you know I’m the emissary?”

“I didn’t. But now I do.” Stiles made a face at him being clever again.

“Where’s Malia?” Stiles vaguely remembered waking up in the middle of the night and talking to the girl, but she passed out again.

“With her mother.” Stiles didn’t even think before she had her athame called to her hand, “Kidding. Goodness, you do a few unsavory things and suddenly everyone thinks you’ll do anything. She’s taking a shower and getting ready to go.”

“Go?” Stiles echoed.

“You’re an emissary on the run. I know the perfect place to hide an emissary. Malia is devoted to you. I want a relationship with my daughter. It’s all very simple.” It really wasn’t.

“Where do you think we’re going?”

“There’s this biennial competition for emissaries and magic users alike. It takes a day or so and we have just enough time to make it. So, smile Stiles, we’re going on a family trip to magical Olympics.”

Stiles wanted to argue just on the principle that Peter Hale was suggesting it, she really did. But how could she turn down magic Olympics? Instead, she let out a loud sigh and got up.

She had just made a cup of coffee for the road when Malia walked into the room wearing clothes that weren’t Stiles’. She looked over at Peter to see a fond look in his eyes and had a good idea where they came from.

“Peter is joining our pack so that he can try to be my father.” Of course he was.

Why wouldn’t Peter join the pack full of people he tried to kill?

Stiles didn’t know anymore.

 

Derek was still unconscious and Hayley told them that it was far from normal, “It’s not even to accelerate this quickly. You said that his mate has been gone for around two weeks but that’s not nearly enough time to knock him out. The only way…” she trailed off, looking like she was really concentrating on the answer, “the only way that this could happen is if the other mate is blocking their own pain and it’s going to Alpha Hale. But that wouldn’t speed it up, only increase the pain from a slight ache to a deep lose. I suppose… I suppose the only way that it could happen is if the bond has been in denial but it would have to be a long period of denial. Did Derek and his mate ever fight their bond?” her question was met with laughter.

“All they did was fight in the beginning,” Scott answered her, “and then it took Stiles a long time to convince Derek to give them a try. He didn’t, but the Stiles moved for college and he was miserable without her so he tracked her down and told her that he was stupid and he would do anything for another chance. They had a rocky start, but they loved each other with everything they had.”

“What happened?” everyone looked at Lydia who looked down in shame, a very uncommon occurrence.

Lydia took a deep breath before looking up, “I made a mistake out of jealousy and ambition. And I have to fix that. What can I do to fix this?”

“Nothing,” everyone looked at her in alarm so Hayley back tracked, “I mean, there’s nothing that you personally can do. It’s all about either reuniting the mates or ending the bond once and for all.” That got her a lot of relieved looks.

“Okay, so we just need to get Stiles down here.”

“Stiles?” Derek questions as he sat up from the bed they placed him in, “Where’s Stiles?”

Erica stepped closer to the bed and put a comforting hand on his shoulder, “We’re going to get her back, Derek.”

“She’s not answering,” Lydia said in frustration.

“Then call her again.” Erica said back with a glare that said she wouldn’t take failure well.

“I’m trying. I’ve called her three times and she hasn’t answered.”

“She’s not a morning person,” Derek objected, “Let her sleep,”

“But-” Lydia started to argue.

“Let her sleep,” Derek flashed his Alpha red at her and she had no choice but to obey, “I’m fine now, so we can wait.” All the werewolves heard the lie and called him out on it, “So I’m still in pain, at least I’m conscious now.  We can wait a couple of hours.”

The pack left their alpha to rest and reconvened in the living room, “I don’t like this plan.” Isaac looked nervous.

“Me either,” Scott agreed, “We don’t know if it’ll keep accelerating and Stiles always wakes up when her phone won’t stop ringing.”

“And if it really gets worse based off of how long they fought it then… there’s a lot for the curse to work with.”

“It’s not a curse,” Lydia snapped at Jackson.

“I don’t think you get to argue now.” Erica shot back.

Voices started piling on top of voices as the pack argued until Boyd yelled, “That’s enough. Derek needs to rest and we need to find Stiles. Did she tell you where she went?” Lydia shook her head, “When is the last time she responded.”

Lydia swiped through her messages, “Last week.”

“Have you messaged her since then?” Lydia nodded, “And she didn’t respond?” another shake, “So Stiles didn’t respond and you didn’t think that mattered?”

“I didn’t think she would respond when I sent the message,” Lydia admitted with shame seeping out from her.

“Why not?” Erica smelled of nothing but hostility.

“Because I told her about Derek and Hayley and how they were getting along so well.” At everyone’s stares, she added on, “But it was obviously before Derek collapsed.”

“That doesn’t make it better, Lydia.” It was the first thing Cora had said since finding Derek passed out. She couldn’t go through losing another family member.

“So how do we find Stiles if she won’t answer her phone?” Isaac wrapped his arms around Cora as he asked the question and she seemed to sink into him.

“We…” Boyd trailed off.

“I might have an answer,” Hayley quietly stepped forward, “but I’ll need the Alpha’s permission.”

 

“So where exactly is magical Olympics?” Stiles asked Peter for the third time as he continued to give directions that gave nothing away.

“I told you, not far. We’re quite lucky they decided to hold it here this year. I think the reasoning was something about some desert spirits finally agreeing to join in.” and that told Stiles absolutely nothing considering they were in New Mexico.

“And what exactly will I do in magical Olympics?”

“You’ll see.” Peter fucking Hale, “But I suppose I could give you an answer in return for one of my own.”

Stiles squinted at him in the rear-view mirror, “What do you want to know?”

Peter smiled serenely which let her know she was going to hate his question, “Since you’re hell bent on running away from a man who loves you, what are you going to do when he finally gets tired of waiting for you to come back or answer his calls and decides to come and find you himself?”

That ache was back in her chest but Stiles just pushed it back as much as she could until she no longer noticed it, “That’s none of your business, Peter. But, to stop you from having any ideas, I have a way to block my presence from supernatural creatures.” At Peter’s raised eye Stiles decided that demonstrating it wouldn’t be a terrible idea because she never got to do it around the pack. They all freaked out for some odd reason.

Stiles made a show of wiping her hands off and then thought about being invisible to the weres in the car. She knew that it worked because, just like with her pack, Peter and Malia made angry, inquisitive sounds.

“How are you gone? Are you gone?” Malia clearly didn’t appreciate the feat Stiles had just performed. Seriously, they both were born weres that we literally made to seek out prey better than any human could dream and their senses were suddenly failing them when it came to her.

“I must admit, it is quite a trick. You should stop it now,” Aw, Peter was still trying to be in charge. Cute.

“Why? Does it make you uncomfortable?”

“Yes,” Malia saved him from having to answer but Stiles knew that Peter was just as uncomfortable as Malia was, “I know that you’re there but I can’t look at you. My body won’t let me. Stop it.”

In an effort to stay on whatever good side Malia had, Stiles did indeed drop it. Not without lamenting how cool it was that it worked on a wolf as old as Peter in such close quarters, but she did eventually let go of her awesome casting.

Both of the weres seemed to breathe a little easier with it gone, “What is like for you guys?”

“It’s like I know where you are but suddenly you’re just blank. My mind can’t perceive you and I can’t pick up any traces of your scent or heartbeat. It truly is neat,” this was one type of praise she could live with getting from Peter because it _was_ neat, “Most magic users use Latin or some other old language. You don’t.”

“And you’d like to know why?” At Peter’s nod Stiles rolled her eyes but answered anyways because she liked talking about her particular brand of magic, “My spark is all about what I believe. I didn’t believe that I needed some dead language to say things that I could say in English. And then I stopped believing I needed words at all. It’s all about intent with me.” Peter made an interested sound but didn’t comment.

This time, when Malia had questions about things that they passed, Peter was there to give as in depth an explanation as he could. Stiles added on when she could and she hated to admit it but it wasn’t a terrible time. Sure, it wasn’t the company that she wanted to go on a road trip with, but that was really her fault wasn’t it? Maybe next time she would love the person a little less.

“You smell sad again,” Malia had no sense of privacy. It was even worse than her pack mates. Stiles never thought anyone could have less tact than her pack mates.

“I’m thinking sad thoughts.”

“Stop. I don’t like your sad smell,” Stiles was going to choose to interpret that as Malia not wanting her to be sad, no matter if Peter’s laugh suggested otherwise. Stiles thought about the Vampire Diaries show – yes, she watched it. She was a teenage girl at the time and what wasn’t nice about blood and sex and monsters that weren’t coming after her for once – and the off switch they had. Just wanting a moment of peace, Stiles thought about creating her own off switch that would flip the other way if someone she loved was in danger or she did it herself. Having a power that was only limited to her belief was awesome.

And Stiles wasn’t sad anymore. In fact, Stiles felt great. She turned the radio on to some pop station and drove a little faster than necessary. Magic Olympics was going to be awesome.

 

“Why do you need Derek’s permission?” Erica was against disrupting any rest Derek was getting if they didn’t absolutely have to.

Hayley gave a sympathetic look like she understood Erica’s hostility and didn’t hold it against her, “You said that Stiles is a magic user, and the easiest way to track on a magic user is with another magic user. If Alpha Hale allows my pack’s emissary permission to enter his land, my emissary can use the traces of magic left by yours to track him. He would have to come here though because, unlike scent, magic doesn’t move from where it’s been cast.”

Erica thought about for a minute and nodded.

“How long would it take him to get here?” Lydia, despite the shame still present in her scent, wasn’t going to suddenly go passive and not try to fix the mess that she made.

“I’m hoping that he’ll be able to just teleport over. It’s a hard skill to master, but he’s been practicing for thirty years so he should be able to come over as soon as I call if he’s not busy with pack business. You said her name is Stiles Stilinski?” everyone nodded, “Then I have no doubt that he won’t come. Emissaries are connected to magic, it’s their job to be the pack’s line of defense against magic and they can sense when big magic comes into play. I didn’t recognize the name before, I don’t know how, but my emissary once spoke about Stiles being someone to look out for. I don’t know if he meant someone to fear or respect but either way it means that Stiles has enough magic that other emissaries want the chance to meet her and determine for themselves.” There were shared looks of pride between the pack members at the recognition Stiles was getting for her skills. She liked to brush off her magical skills, but they all knew that she was proud of everything she had accomplished. And here was a member of another pack saying that Stiles had been noticed for all of those accomplishments.

“If Stiles is so gifted, why hasn’t she teleported before?” Jackson’s words were hostile but it was clear from his scent that he didn’t mean it. The pack still gave him rude looks, but no one said anything.

“Like I said, it’s complicated magic. Doing it wrong could tear entire limbs off of someone’s body. My emissary can barely teleport himself. I know that there are currently only three magic users in the world that are known to be able to take someone else with them. It’s not a skill that anyone should try and rush into.” Hayley showed her clear disapproval for the kanima. A part of her wanted to stay behind just to help the pack learn a little respect and unity. How they survived as much as they did with all of the infighting was a mystery to her. Thinking about what they could overcome as a true, unified pack was certainly food for thought.

“Understood,” Lydia ended the discussion, “we’ll be sure to tell Stiles before anything bad can happen to her,” at the looks that she got, Lydia amended her sentence, “anything else bad can happen to her.”

“I’ll take you to Derek. I’d like to fix this as fast as we can.” Erica made her way back to Derek’s room, trusting that Hayley would follow.

Derek was lying deathly still on the bed, and if it hadn’t been for the heartbeat Erica would have been afraid, “Derek,” she placed a hand on his shoulder, “Derek you need to wake up.” He didn’t budge. Erica let out a sigh, “Stiles! When did you get back?” Derek started to move.

“Stiles?” he sounded so sad, Erica couldn’t believe that two weeks away from Stiles had brought the man so low. It took him a two months when Stiles went to college to get near this bad. And he could at least stand then. Sometimes, Erica hated magic. She didn’t hate Stiles, not after all the girl had done for her, but a part of her wished that the two didn’t love each other so much that things like this could be possible because of stupid magic.

“That’s right,” Erica said softly, “We’re trying to find Stiles and we need your permission to track her.” She looked over at Hayley and nodded at the girl to tell her to start speaking.

“Alpha Hale,” Derek turning his vacant gaze over to Hayley, “I request permission to allow my pack’s emissary onto your land to track your missing mate.” Derek nodded and started trying to get up.

“Woah,” Erica started to gently push him back down, “We have it all under control, Alpha. We need you to get strong for Stiles. Stiles needs you to get better.” She didn’t like using his affliction against him, but the only sure way of getting Derek to do anything was to tell him that it was for Stiles.

He nodded again and seemed to accept her reasoning. The two girls left him to rest and made their way back to the rest of the pack.

Hayley pulled out her phone and started a phone call. The weres in the pack could hear it ring several times before going to voicemail. Hayley tried again with the same result. She looked up at the watching pack, “It’s not going through so I’m going to call my mom.” She pressed a few buttons and the weres could hear a female voice on the other end of the line.

“Hi honey, is everything okay?”

“Mostly. Mom, do you know why Wesley isn’t answering his phone?”

“It’s the Battle of the Mages dear. Wesley won’t be back or answering his phone until tomorrow. Is there something I can help you with?”

“Unless you can perform a tracking spell using residue magic, it’s out of our ballpark Mom. Thanks anyways.” The call ended not long after that, “My emissary can’t come until tomorrow. We should be fine until then, but any were that feels comfortable siphoning some of Alpha Hale’s pain should feel free to do so. It’s the only thing we can do and I’m not even sure that will work considering it’s not physical pain.”

The weres left the room and the remaining pack looked at one another. Once again, their only hope was Stiles. They were never letting her leave alone again.

 

 

 

Well, maybe. Maybe magical Olympics would be awesome if Peter had actually led them to it. Had magical Olympics been a lie all along?

“Are you sure this is the place?” Stiles looked at Peter dubiously. She was here to have an awesome time and Peter had brought them to an actual desert landscape with no people in sight.

“Have a little faith,” the glare on her face made Peter laugh, “at least use your special senses to see if the area is really empty.”

Stiles closed her eyes and felt the area out with her spark, “Woah,” there was so much. So many different types of beings. She got out of her jeep, not really concerned with the other two because there was so much to be explored. And it was all hidden… there. Stiles could feel the edge of some really powerful wards. She could sense that they were supposed to make people want to stay away, kind of like the Hogwarts anti-muggle charms, but they couldn’t do anything to her.

Stepping through them Stiles was met with the coolest layout she had ever seen. There was magic everywhere and people pulling off things she had never even thought of. There was a gypsy looking woman standing in front of a tent and petting an astral wolf that seemed to be made of smoke. There was an actual djinn – Stiles could tell from the blue skin and raised markings on his skin – sitting at a booth and offering ten minutes of paradise in exchange for a dream. Tempting, and maybe Stiles would have tried it before, but she felt awesome now.

Peter made his way beside her and nudged her shoulder with his own, “It’s time to get you signed up for the competition.” Malia and Stiles traveled behind Peter as he walked confidently through the coolest place she had ever been. Malia shuffled closer to her as they walked and Stiles figured she was a bit uncomfortable with all of the magic in the air. Stiles had never breathed air so clean or felt so at home before, although part of that could be the fact that she couldn’t feel things like fear or pain anymore.

“I have a new competitor for the Battle of the Mages.” Peter told a man in a booth. Stiles liked the sound of that, Battle of the Mages. It made her feel powerful.

The man in the booth nodded before looking at Stiles, “I can sense your magic but we require proof of ability for entry.” Stiles thought about it before trying something she had always been a little too afraid to, she conjured a fireball in the palm of her hand before throwing it up and watching it turn to fireworks. She should remove her emotions all of the time, she had never thought to try that before!

There was some clapping around her and Stiles turned to see that she had drawn a little bit of a crowd with her display. Awesome, “That works for me,” the man smiled at her, “I just need you to verbally confirm that you’re over eighteen, knowing that the magic can sense if you’re lying.”

“I’m 23.” Stiles confirmed.

“Great,” the man handed her a form to write her name on, “The competition starts in a hour so you just need to make your way to the arena and get prepared.”

Stiles turned to find the arena before she found someone standing right behind her looking a bit threatened, “Nice trick,” the arrogant man who reminded her a bit of Jackson smirked at her, “I heard that you came here in a car before. You must be a newb.” Considering that Stiles had been there for less than twenty minutes, Stiles was wary about how the guy knew so much.

“How so?” There was a challenge in his voice and Stiles was ready for anything anyone could throw at her.

“Real magic users teleport to where they want to go. But I wouldn’t expect someone like you to know how to do that.” Challenge fucking accepted.

She heard people around her arguing with the guy but Stiles blocked them out and thought about being five feet in front of her. Stiles did the Bewitched nose twitch and her surroundings changed faster than she could compute. Looking around her, Stiles saw that she was successful. Take that Jackson wannabe!

Stiles turned around to smirk back at the guy who was looking a little less confident. Stiles twitched her nose again and found herself right in front of him.

He laughed but it didn’t sound like he meant it at all, “Anyone can teleport themselves. I bet you can’t teleport someone else.” Stiles raised her eyebrows at him and looked back at Peter.

“That isn’t something to laugh about or do on a whim,” a man from the crowd surrounding them spoke up, “There are only three people in the world that can teleport other people. Are you one of them?” the boy didn’t respond, “I thought not.”

All Stiles could think was, there’s about to be four.

She walked back to Malia and held out her hand. Malia grasped it and before Peter could pull her away, Stiles twitched her nose. The only way to know if she could do it was to try.


	5. Not Everything You Lose is Bound to Be a Loss

Stiles felt the same rush before as everything around her shifted too fast for her brain to work through it. She could feel Malia’s hand tense but it was over in a moment.

She did it! Three people her ass, this was easy!

The applause was louder than before and Stiles reveled in it. The man who had cautioned her against it looked at Stiles with fear and respect, “I take it you’ve never tried that before?” Stiles smiled but before she could respond, Peter was gripping her shoulder so tightly Stiles was sure there were going to be bruises.

He pulled Malia behind him with his other hand, “What the hell was that?” Someone was pissed. He should really try a magical off switch.

Stiles laughed at him but didn’t try to pull away. It didn’t matter, “They said only three people could do it. I wanted to be number four.” It was simple, she didn’t get what the big deal was.

“There’s a reason only three people could do it Stiles! It’s a very delicate spell that can kill people if it’s done wrong! You could have killed Malia with your carelessness. I know that you did something to take away your sadness, but this isn’t the way. You’re going to get someone killed.” Peter was always so dramatic.

“Did you say Stiles?” the same man from before asked. Stiles turned to see that most of the crowd had dispersed.

Peter turned to the man, not loosening his grip on Stiles at all in the process, “Stiles Stilinski. Every bad thing you heard it true.”

The man looked at Stiles in appraisal, “I felt your magic a couple years back. You’re not what I expected, but I think more than what any of us has hoped for.” Stiles didn’t know how to respond to that and Peter, hearing that the man wasn’t going to chastise Stiles, let go of her, “There’s a certain aura of luck about you, have you done any favors for any fae recently.”

Stiles laughed, “Oh yeah, there was this fight between some fairies and pixies and I helped them get free. It was awesome!”

“Pixies?” Stiles laughed, “That would be enough to get a favor from anyone. Those are nasty little buggers. How did you stop them?”

“I turned their power back on them. Every time they tried to turn me to stone, it reversed and changed them. The fairies did say something about thanks buy I didn’t know they meant giving me luck. I didn’t even know they could do that.” That would make finding Malia and Peter so quickly and then defeating Corrine with relative ease seem more plausible. The odds of magic Olympics being right around the corner had seemed a little too good to be true, but fairy luck would explain it all.

The man laughed with Stiles that time, “That’s ingenious. Their skin is impervious to most weapons and spells but I would have never thought to try and use their own power against them. You’re something extraordinary, Stiles.” She smiled in a way that she wouldn’t have before. She used to be modest about her accomplishments but now she felt powerful and in charge. There was no need to pretend to be anything less than she was.

“That was cool.” Malia agreed, walking around Peter and standing by Stiles again, “I don’t want to do it again, but it was cool.” Stiles smiled at her, glad that one of her companions wasn’t boring.

“Cool?” Peter questioned, “You could have been seriously injured, Malia. I just met you, you don’t get to die so soon.”

Malia glared at him, “And you don’t get to tell me what to do. You didn’t even know about me until yesterday.”

“And I’d like to know you tomorrow which means you need to be alive tomorrow.”

Stiles was bored with the family drama so she just walked away and closer to the man whose name she didn’t know. He thought she was cool so she decided she could hang out with him, “What’s your name?”

“Wesley Byrne. I’m from the Thornwood pack. I believe you’re from the Hale pack.” Stiles nodded, “I’ve heard great things about your pack. Is it true that you have a banshee?” her mood soured at the thought of Lydia so she nodded by tried to steer the conversation elsewhere.

“Are you competing today?”

“Of course! The competition only happens every two years and I’ve been practicing my invisibility charm. As long as I keep the words straight in my head, I should be fine.”

“What exactly happens in the competition?”

“Well there are three tasks chosen at random by some of the previous champions who will act as judges,” Stiles made an inquisitive sound to urge him to elaborate, “If you any of the stages, you’re given the opportunity to be a judge on the next year’s competition. If you’re the overall champion you must be a judge so that there’s a chance for someone else to win. You can compete again the following competition, of course.”

Stiles asked him to lead her to the arena but also keep explaining, “The judges get a bias removal spell cast on them so that they will judge fairly and not skew any of the tasks for their friends. They choose the tasks after the spell is cast and we find them out as we start them.”

“So it’s a Triwizard tournament situation?” Wesley gave her a confused look, “You’re a magic user and you don’t know Harry Potter?” another confused look, “I guess no one’s perfect. When does it start and what should I look out for?”

“It should start in… fifteen minutes. There really is no preparing for the tasks aside from having a good amount of general knowledge. One year we had to face a sphynx and the next we had to walk through fire. You just don’t know. You can quit at any time. Sabotage isn’t allowed outside of the tasks but you can do anything non-fatal to your opponents inside of the arena. There are around a hundred competitors but only the first ten to pass the round get points for it. The person with the most points wins. That’s really all there is to it.” A magical free for all? Awesome.

“All participants in the Battle of the Mages please make your way into the arena. The competition is about to start.”

Wesley turned to Stiles, “Good luck.”

She smiled brightly at him and walked into the arena like she owned it. She felt like she did. She pushed her spark to get a feel for who she was competing against. Some druids, two other sparks – not surprising given how hard it had been to find information about herself in the beginning. They were a rare and elusive species, - many witches and wizards, some warlocks, there was even a demigod and wasn’t that awesome. She decided against introducing herself to the half deity, no need to get close to someone she was trying to beat.

Once all of the competitors were in the arena and the entrances were all locked, an official looking man walked to the center, “Hello everyone. I am last battle’s champion, Edward Mathews, and I’m proud to welcome you all to the Battle of the Mages. The first round will require you all to have a firm grasp on reality and complete control over your emotions,” Stiles smiled, “All you must do is make it from one end of the arena to the other. There is no teleporting allowed but anything else goes. It isn’t as easy as it sounds but nothing ever is. Everyone to your places,” all of the competitors make their way to one end of the arena, looking at each other in suspicion and confusion over such a simple task, “Good luck facing your demons.”

There was a moment when everyone could feel some sort of darkness spread throughout the arena. Then everyone started moving. Stiles could see dark wisps that looked like the gypsy’s wolf start to take shape around her.

“Stiles!” Scott was screaming right beside her, “Stiles, help me!” She spared him a glance and saw that a ghostly apparition of Scott was lying on the ground covered in blood. He looked like he had been mauled by a predator.

Stiles kept walking.

“Stiles!” This time it was her dad and he was in front of her, “What did you do? What did you do to your mother?” he had clearly been drinking and he was running at her with an obvious intent to do her harm. She let him get within a foot of her and then blew air that made the apparition dissolve.

Then it was Erica and Boyd suffering from Gerard.

Stiles kept walking.

Lydia was drowning.

Malia was being killed by her mother.

The oni were rushing at her.

Nogitsune Stiles was striding towards her and she spared her a wink before starting to run. She was bored.

As soon as she started wondering about Derek he started to form in front of her, “Stiles, you were right to leave. I didn’t love you. I’m happier with my new mate.” That ache in her chest was trying to form again but Stiles was beyond the pain now.

More and more versions of Derek started forming around her but Stiles pushed all of the pain away and ran even faster. She could vaguely see that the people around her were crying or stopping but they didn’t matter. Stiles could see the other end and there was no one even close to her. Derek died to her left and Stiles crossed the finish line. All of the apparitions that had been following her disappeared. Stiles just got first place. Awesome.

 

Derek was in pain again and it was worse than before.

“Why is this happening? You said that we had more time?” Erica was flashing her golden eyes at Hayley who flashed her own in return.

“This isn’t a time for infighting!” Hayley suddenly seemed every bit the alpha’s daughter that she was, “You need to stop trying to place blame and start trying to work together. I’ve never seen a pack as disorganized as yours and I’m not surprised your emissary left.” Anger and shame permeated the room, “I thought that we would have more time, and Derek isn’t dying. He’s in pain because the mating bond is being stretched more than before, obviously on Stiles end which we currently have no control over. The only thing we can do to help him is knock him out until Stiles is found or break the bond completely. Neither choice is ideal and we can’t break the bond without his consent which he has to be awake and in pain for. Be a good pack for once in your life and decide together.” More shame.

The pack members looked at each other, unsure where to start. Hayley had clearly had enough of them but she wasn’t willing to risk leaving the alpha to their indecisiveness, “Everyone follow me and I’m going to show you how an actual pack meeting and decision happens.” She made her way towards the living room and left no room for arguments. She was going to try and fix the pack for the damage she inadvertently caused.

Everyone sat down and Hayley kept standing. She came from a long line of alphas on her father’s side and her mother used to work as a pack mediator when she was younger. She was born for this, “The problem: Alpha Hale is suffering from mate separation and it’s getting worse. The possible solutions: keep him knocked out, let him stay in pain, or end the bond. Each of you gets to cast your vote and say your piece and there will be no interrupting. You are all adults and it’s time you left high school behind you.” The pack shifted uncomfortably but didn’t argue.

“I’ll go first,” Scott offered. Hayley nodded at him, “I don’t think we have a right to try and end a relationship that was going great before… before Stiles left,” he didn’t look at Lydia but everyone knew why he paused, “so I vote that we try and keep Derek knocked out. Stiles is going to come back, she cares about us too much to ever leave even if it causes her pain. We all know just how far she would go for us and I don’t think we can give up on her now.” He looked around at everyone before sitting back down.

“Good,” Hayley commended him, “that’s exactly how it should go. Are you the right hand?” she could tell that no one knew what she was talking about, “Wow, you have come so far but you are all so far behind. Next.”

“I’ll go,” Erica didn’t appreciate being called out but she couldn’t argue that they weren’t exactly behaving like a real pack should, “I agree with most of what Scott said but I have to add that we need a cut off time. If Stiles is gone for more than a week more than we have to consider ending the bond for the good of both of them. We aren’t even sure if she’s really blocking it or if she’s just as incapacitated as Derek. So, I vote to knock him out, but not let that be our only plan.”

“My emissary should be here within a day,” Hayley reminded everyone.

“I hope so,” Erica agreed, “but things haven’t exactly been going our way lately. If anything can go wrong, it usually does, so I’d like to be prepared.” There were agreements when Erica mentioned everything going wrong, but no one interrupted because Hayley didn’t seem in the forgiving mood.

“I agree with Erica,” Boyd seconded.

Jackson scoffed, “Big surprise.”

Hayley responded before anyone else could, “Do you disagree?” Jackson didn’t respond, “No, I said no interrupting and you still spoke out of turn. If you think that you are so much more important than everyone else, please enlighten us.” The condemning tone she used made Jackson feel like answering would be a bad idea, “I am trying to help you protect your alpha, but I shouldn’t have to. If you don’t want to be here, if you don’t think your pack mates are worthy than please leave. Nothing is keeping you here and no one wants to be pack with someone who looks down on them. You no longer get your vote, but you do have to answer a different question: why are you here?”

Jackson looked nervous, “Because… because Lydia is here.” Hayley looked at him with reproach, “And… I don’t have anywhere else to be. These bunch of losers,” he quickly amended his sentence at the growls he was getting, “my pack members saved me from being a monster. Stiles saved me, and I owe it to them to save them back.”

“That’s it?” Hayley asked, “You’re here out of duty? That isn’t enough to keep a pack together. You have to want to be here, to work on your bonds, and lift each other up. Pack isn’t an obligation, it’s a chosen lifestyle. Any one of you can be an omega. Is anyone here because you actually want to be?”

Isaac, Scott, Erica, Boyd, Allison, and Cora nodded. Jackson and Lydia looked down in shame.

“I…” Lydia looked at everyone, “I never thought of it like that. I’m here because it’s in my best interests to be. And I do care about all of you, even though it doesn’t seem like that,” Erica scoffed loudly but Lydia continued, “I know you can hear my heartbeat. You know that I’m not lying,” she wasn’t, “I care about all of you and I can do better. I will do better. We will do better.” She gave Jackson a pointed look.

“You can’t make that decision for him,” Hayley intervened.

“She’s right,” Jackson straightened up, “I’m a dick, I know that, but pack is important to me. All of you are… important to me. I can do better.”

“Good.” Hayley made sure to make eye contact with everyone, “You aren’t all magically fixed now, but it’s a start. It’s something that you all need to remember when you start behaving like teenagers again. Your alpha has his own blame for allowing it, but you all made your decisions on your own. I hope you mean what you said and the rest of you think about how you too can do better. But that isn’t why we’re here, who’s next to vote?”

“I agree with Erica.” Lydia smiled softly at the other girl who didn’t flash her eyes so Lydia felt like it was a start.

“I agree with Scott,” Allison spoke next, “and I have faith that Stiles is going to be back as soon as she can.”

“I agree with Scott,” Cora stood up, “and as someone who grew up in a traditional pack I can say that no mated pair would agree to lose their bond if they had a choice. I have no clue how Derek didn’t sense it but that could have been Stiles’ spark. She’s always been capable of more than she thought and she probably cut it off on Derek’s end subconsciously out of fear that he would be with her out of obligation or reject her thinking that he took her choice away. That’s something my brother would do.” She smiled softly, “We don’t have the right to take their love away but we should stop Derek from feeling any unnecessary pain.”

“And that’s everyone,” Hayley smiled at them, “So you agree: knock Derek out and have faith in your pack member.” Everyone started smiling, proud of working together for once. They could be a real pack. They _would_ be a real pack.

 

“Damn it!” Stiles was less than happy with coming in second for the second task. It was not a trend she wanted to continue. She had been so sure of herself, and that’s what cost her first. Having no bad emotions meant that she wasn’t driven by fear like the guy who came in first was. She had been too interested in studying the green wizards fire that they were told to walk through. She knew that it was supposed to sear the flesh from the bone, but she felt confident that she was safe and everyone else would be hesitant enough to give her an edge. She supposed losing to a demigod wasn’t the worst feeling but coming in first would have been better.

“You’re not upset about coming second to the daughter of a god, are you?” Wesley had been the sixth person to finish.

“I could have done better.”

“You’ve already done better than most people here,” Wesley reminded her, “and there’s still one more task. As crazy as it sounds, you have a real shot at winning the whole competition. I would go as far to place money on it if I weren’t participating myself. I told you that you were more than we expected.” But Stiles knew that she could be better. For once, how people saw her didn’t matter. She knew that she could be more and the only thing holding her back was her apathy. Depending on the next task, she could risk letting her emotions back in if it meant winning. Not yet though, no need to do something so silly if she didn’t have to.

“And here comes number 10. Congratulations everyone, task three will be starting shortly if everyone could please make it to the center of the arena.” The distinguished announcer was back.

Stiles followed everyone to the center and noticed there was a sort of magic coming from the ground. It was almost as if the ground was alive.

“I heard about this,” Wesley had caught up to her again, “apparently the reason for having the competition here was some desert spirits agreed to participate in one of the challenges. I can’t wait to see what the judges thought up for such reclusive spirits.” He had the sort of academic hard on that Stiles could objectively appreciate and probably would have shared if she was in the feeling mood.

“I’m sure you’ve all heard the exciting news,” the announcer had found his way into the middle of the little circle the remaining participants had formed. Of the hundred or so that started the competition, only sixty something remained. Apparently, not everyone appreciated the risk of losing their skin or facing all the nightmares that their mind could come up with, “and we are in fact joined by the spirits of the desert themselves. The Native American women that died here while possessing magic of their own have been tied to the desert since their deaths in an effort to protect the land that protected them. After much negotiating, they have agreed to be your final challenge. Unlike the other tasks, this one will have only three winners. Each of the three spirits that you will see shortly has on their person an enchanted item that you will have to find. Anyone tagged by their power is immediately disqualified from the round. As soon as you have possession of the item, you will be teleported to the judges to await the final ruling. I wish you all the best of luck.”

Luck, right. Stiles had been given fae luck. It wouldn’t win the competition for her but it could definitely guide her to the right plan if she listened to it.

The ground underneath them started shaking and the contestants watched as three women pulled themselves out from the ground covered in feathers and jewelry. They had a feral look in their eyes and Stiles knew that going first wouldn’t work. The women were smart, prepared, and this was the land they lived and died on. They had every advantage, so Stiles just had to wait until they were distracted.

A dozen or so contestants started rushing towards them and Stiles watched as six of them were instantly hit and out of the competition. The women seemed to prefer air and earth magic. Interesting.

Ten more were out.

The demigod was sneaking behind a busy spirit and grabbed a feather from her hair before she had a change to retaliate. Stiles almost felt worry for a second before she noticed that the demi god hadn’t been transported anywhere. She grabbed the wrong item.

Stiles had to make sure that that didn’t happen to her.

Thirty seconds later and more than half of the competitors were gone with no winners. Taking a risk, Stiles closed her eyes and tried to sense for any object that was giving off more magic than usual… there. Stiles looked at the tallest of the spirits and noticed that her bracelet was glowing no matter if it was in the sun or not. Bingo.

Stiles took out a few of her competitors herself with immobilizing charms and was only slightly disappointed when it didn’t work on the spirit. It did, however, get the spirit’s attention who smiled when she looked at Stiles, “I’ve been waiting for you, little spark.”

Stiles had to dodge a blast of wind that the spirit sent at her before answering, “Waiting to give me the bracelet? Thanks, I’ll take that now.” Stiles lunged at her only to have the spirit use the earth to trip her at the last moment. She rolled out of the way of a red blast of light that would have taken her out of the competition.

“You can have the bracelet,” the spirit threw another blast of wind that Stiles countered with her own, “if you turn your emotions back on.”

“How do you know about that?” Stiles an astral hawk to retrieve the bracelet but the spirit erected an earth cage that formed around it, “Why do you care?”

“I don’t,” the spirit threw another blast of red that Stiles barely dodged in time by hitting the ground. She briefly considered making wards but knew that it would stop her as much as stop the spirit, “but you killed the Desert Wolf that was killing on our land. I’d like to thank you for that.”

“By making me feel bad again?” it was hard to talk in between all of the maneuvers she had to pull off to stay in the game, but Stiles wasn’t one to run out of words no matter the circumstances.

“By giving you a chance to save someone you love. He’s in pain and I know that you would do anything to save your mate.” That ache was trying to come back and Stiles didn’t want to let it, but looking around her she saw that someone else was gaining the upper hand on one of the other spirits and she wasn’t going to lose. Not again.

“Fine, give me the bracelet.” Stiles held her hand out and mentally flipped the switch. As Stiles fell to her knees at the pain that bloomed in her chest, she could vaguely feel metal being pressed into her palm.

“We are now even, little spark. You have to take it from here,” is the last thing Stiles heard before her surroundings blurred together and she found herself on the ground in front of what she assumed to be the judges table.

Stiles groaned in pain but managed to stand up and look at the people who would tell her if that trick was worth it.

The woman on the end of the table, and the only female judge, looked at Stiles with pride, “I think it’s safe to say that you just won dear, but we have to wait for the other two all the same. Nice to see another woman come out on top though.” Stiles laughed with her but mostly felt irritation at having to wait there in pain.

Within fifteen minutes, the other two victors had won, and Stiles found herself the owner of a grimoire from Salem. Awesome, she didn’t even know that there was a prize.

Stiles went through the motions as congratulations were given and promises were made to judge the next competition. Many emissaries were asking for her number for their packs and Stiles could have laughed at the irony of running away from a pack alliance only to wind up making dozens of her own. Wesley found her again around the same time Peter and Malia did, “That was quite a feat, Stiles. I hope that you’ll allow me to contact you outside of the competition should the need arise?”

Stiles gave him her first genuine smile and gave him her contact information. She had no clue where her phone had gone in all of the excitement. That last thing she remembered was flipping through her photo album when she was high and telling Malia about each picture of Derek when the coyote had found her.

Wesley tried to keep the conversation going but Stiles needed an out. She couldn’t be there anymore. As great as magical Olympics was, her chest ached and she knew flipping the switch would only be a temporary fix. One that, if she was to believe the desert spirit, was hurting Derek somehow. She had to check on him.

Peter and Malia suddenly surrounded her and helped her escape back to her jeep.

“I assume we’re headed back to the pack now?” clever Peter once again.

“Yeah,” Stiles sighed, “the spirit taught me that ghosting isn’t the answer.” Peter and her laughed at her stupid joke but Malia demanded an explanation. Peter had tried to give it but Stiles cut him off before she could hear just how in the know he was about younger culture. Thinking about the reason he would need to know what ghosting was wasn’t something Stiles wanted to do.

“I could just teleport us,” Stiles offered up when Peter made her let him drive because of all the hunching over she was doing. Her chest would not stop hurting and if the mate separation was affecting Derek too than she had to physically be with him to stop it. She hadn’t dared to think she was his mate the way that he was hers, but maybe something good was happening to her for once. Something pure and all hers. That would be absolutely awesome.

Peter gave her an emphatic no and told her to go to sleep. Stiles figured dreams had to be better than pain.

 

Hayley’s phone was ringing, “Hello?”

“Hello Hayley, sorry it took so long to get back to you. It was quite the competition though.”

“I’d love to hear all about it, Wesley, but I need you help. Alpha Hale has given you permission to enter his land and I need you to help me track a missing emissary. It’s a case of mate separation that’s turned more serious as each day passes. It seems to have let up for the moment and he’s conscious again, but I’d like to stop it as soon as possible.”

“Of course, let me grab some items from my home and I’ll be there as soon as I can. If you could draw a teleportation sigil wherever is appropriate I would appreciate it.”

“It’ll be done. Please hurry.”

“Well?” Allison spoke for all of the humans, wanting to know all that had been discussed.

“He’s agreed to come and he’ll be here as soon as he can.”

The pack shared frustrated looks. They knew that he wasn’t their emissary and didn’t owe them anything, but finding Stiles didn’t involve the time it would take to get her back to Beacon Hills and they wanted to avoid Derek regressing back to the painful state he was in before.

Speak of the devil, “It’s fine. I’m better now and Stiles is going to make everything better. I have news for all you anyways.” Derek turned to Hayley before looking back at all of them, “I’ve talked with Hayley and it’s clear that we have a lot to work on. Step one is making sure that what happened when I was under doesn’t happen again. We can’t have infighting and refusal to listen to each other cost us. I’ve decided on my left and right hands.”

“You what?” Scott wasn’t the only one confused, but he was the only one to ask.

“In packs there is an alpha, a left hand, a right hand, and the rest of the betas. The left had in the alpha’s chosen defender. The person I believe will the pack’s best defender and be the most stubborn is Miss Erica Reyes.” She beamed at Derek and the rest of the pack cheered their approval, “As for my right hand, the person to act as my council and act as interim leader if I’m down for the count again and Stiles is nowhere to be found, I’ve chosen Mister Scott McCall.” more cheers filled the room and no one argued the choices because, for the first time, they chose to have full faith in their alpha and their pack mates. The would be better.

“How’s the pain?” Hayley asked Derek quietly enough but the whole pack quieted down to hear the answer themselves.

“I won’t lie, it’s still there and I don’t want to feel it any longer than I have to, but I know that Stiles and I are meant to be together. This proves it more than anything. I don’t know how I didn’t know we were true mates but I’m going to complete the bond as soon as she lets me. Stiles and I will always find our ways back to each other, I’m absolutely sure of that.”

There were teary eyes and averted gazes at his romantic proclamation, and it was silent until Jackson yelled, “Next scene!” and everyone started laughing.

The light mood was cut off as a flash of light and a man appeared right where Hayley had drawn the sigil, “Alpha Hale, I presume?” a dapper looking man questioned Derek who nodded in reply, “I hear there is an emissary you want me to track down?”

“Emissary Byrne, the emissary is my true mate,” Derek smiled a little before continuing, “and I would ask your help finding her before our bond stretches too thin. When she left, she was in a bad place and didn’t want to be in anymore pain, which I won’t argue was a good decision. But I’m afraid she might try and end the bond on her own and I believe I can convince her to let me fix everything the way she’s always fixed everything for me.”

Wesley looked a bit teary eyed himself and he cleared his throat before replying, “Well I can’t think of a better cause than true mates. Would her name happen to be Stiles Stilinski?” several heads nodded in response, “I wish I had been able to use my phone earlier. I met Stiles very recently actually, and I have to say you have an exceptionally gifted emissary that is capable of doing things the rest of us have likely never dreamed of. You’re a very lucky pack to be witness to such greatness. She managed to be crowned champion at her first Battle of Mages and I don’t believe that’s ever been done.”

“When did you last see her?” Derek’s eyes had widened the more that Wesley talked. He vaguely knew what Battle of the Mages was, it wasn’t something Deaton had ever wanted to participate in and he was the only magic user Derek was close to before Stiles.

“Yesterday.”

“Only Stiles could run away and still manage to do the impossible while trying to hide,” there was so much fondness in Scott’s voice. Everyone made sounds of agreement, proud of their packmate for being so exceptional.

“And I’m sure you all can’t wait to congratulate her, so why don’t I start on that tracking spell. Do you happen to have a map of the US?” Derek shook his head, “Well then that’s step one. Can any of you go and purchase one?”

“I’ll do it,” Lydia volunteered, knowing that she had to do anything she could to help find Stiles and make it up to her for how bitchy she had been recently.

“Great,” Wesley smiled at her, “once we have the map and I can find some magic that Stiles left behind, it should take only ten or so minutes for me to complete the spell.”

“I’ll be back soon.” Lydia grabbed her purse and started walking to the door only to have it open before she could get there.

“Honey, I’m home!” the pack watched in shock as the emissary they were about to track down made her way into the loft, “You would not believe the week I’ve had – oh, hi Wesley! Funny seeing you here. I’ve brought two new members and I expect you to all play nice, also if someone could catch me, that would be cool.” Stiles started to fall and seeing that shook everyone out of their stupor. Derek was across the room with unnatural speed and hold Stiles in his arms. He looked down at her like she was the most precious thing in the world and everyone in the room could tell that he truly believed that, “Good catch, honey.” Stiles smiled up at him.

“I’ll always catch you.”

Stiles rolled her eyes at him before using him to help her stand up, “You’re ridiculous.” But she kissed his cheek right after she said it so everyone could tell she liked his ridiculous.

“Well what sort of time do you call this?” Derek teased her back.

“Actually,” Stiles glanced behind her, “I call it family reunion time. Derek, Cora, you remember your uncle, meet your cousin.” The pack finally focused on the people that Stiles brought with her and growls filled the room, “I said, play nice.” Stiles sent some power with her words had to lean more on Derek to compensate for it.

“Are you hurt?” Derek started scanning her for injuries with his eyes.

“Nope,” Stiles waved her hand, “my spark is just settling down again and doesn’t appreciate any more strain. I may or may not have used it all the way over to speed up our trip, turn lights green, and keep people out of our way.”

“Right,” Derek turned back to everyone, “Stiles is home. It’s time for everyone to go home, We,” he made eye contact with Peter, Malia, and Cora, “will be meeting later to discuss whatever Stiles found out, but I have a mate bond to settle and you all have to be somewhere else while I do that.” Stiles felt her stomach flutter at Derek’s casual mention of being mates and knew then that she had overreacted, but Stiles had something to settle first.

“Wait,” Stiles pulled herself off of Derek and made her way to Lydia. The red head looked down a Stiles approached and therefor didn’t see when the hand swung out towards her face, “God that feels good.” Jackson advanced on her but she held him in his place with a wave of her hand, “This isn’t about you.”

Lydia whimpered a bit at the pain but didn’t say anything as she lifted her head up to meet Stiles’ gaze.

“Why did you do it? This is the twenty-first century. We don’t tear each other down anymore, so why did you do it?”

Lydia took a deep breath before answering, “You’ve probably already guessed that it’s jealousy and it is, but it’s not what you’re thinking.”

“Lydia, goddess among mere mortals, what could you possibly be jealous of?” Stiles couldn’t wait to tell them all about the actual demi god that she had met but she didn’t think know was the appropriate time.

“It’s true that I envy you. You’re powerful and intelligent and have an alpha at your beck and call, but I didn’t get really jealous until…” she trailed off and looked at her audience, gave a pointed look to Jackson, and the looked back at Stiles, “until I was having sex with Jackson and he said your name.” shock was an understatement for what Stiles was feeling. Her former bully called out her name during sex? That was every kind of wrong and Jackson needed therapy for the abuse kink he surely had, “I had never been so embarrassed before and I just needed you to know what it was like however I could. It was petty and wrong, and I knew that I could never make Derek actually want someone other than you, but I knew that I could convince you that there was a chance he could and that was enough for me. I am so sorry, Stiles. I know that Jackson is the one to blame, but that had never happened to me before and I didn’t know how to process it. I know that doesn’t excuse my actions.”

Stiles processed all of the information before she responded, “It doesn’t. You acted out jealousy and hurt and you created those feelings for me. I had actually convinced myself to leave forever,” Stiles could hear upset noises around her and knew that she would have to have a long talk with Derek, “and that’s something I never thought I would feel. You made me so insecure about the one thing I thought was forever. The one thing I know is forever. I understand why you did it and I get it, but I don’t forgive you. Not yet. I know that I can forgive you but it will take a lot on your part. I hope that you relearn your worth and mine. We both deserve better than what you did to us. And you and Jackson have some things to work out too so… why don’t you work on your relationship and I’ll work on mine and we’ll see where that leaves us?” it wasn’t really a question and Lydia knew that.

Derek made his way beside Stiles and wrapped an arm around her waist again, feeling a little fear at the thought that he could have lost her forever, “As punishment for nearly ending a true mate bond, you are banned from communication with the pack for a minimum of one month. Jackson is banned as well so that you aren’t completely alone and the two of you can decide if you truly want to be here. I hope you prove yourselves worthy of being out packmates again, but that is entirely up to you.”

The pack left soon after that, with the four Hales making plans to meet the next day.

“It’s nice to finally meet you.” Hayley made her way to Stiles, “I only wish it had been better circumstances that brought us together.”

Stiles smiled at the girl she once thought was ruining her life, “If only. I hear that you’ve done a lot of good for my pack though, so maybe the circumstances were exactly what we needed.”

“How much longer do we have you for?” Derek spoke up.

“Oh,” Hayley looked back at Wesley, “I think I’ll be leaving pretty soon. Wesley says that Stiles gave him what he needed to master two-person teleportation. You’re quite the inspiration.” Stiles blushed at the praise but didn’t shy away from it. If being without her emotions taught her anything, it was that it’s okay to be proud of her abilities.

“She is,” Derek agreed from her side.

Minutes later the Thornwood pack members were gone, and Stiles was along with Derek.

“Crazy thing about Peter, isn’t it?” Stiles looked up at Derek only to see that his eyes were alpha red.

“I think we have something more important to talk about.”

“Oh yeah,” Stiles answered coyly as she left Derek’s embrace and started walking backwards away from him, “and what would that be?”

“I think you know, mate,” he advanced towards her and Stiles couldn’t believe she ever thought she could give this magnificent man up, “what’s this I hear about you leaving me for my own good?”

Stiles continued to walk backwards towards Derek’s room… their room, “I did come to my senses eventually.”

“We have a bond to cement, my true mate, and then you’ll know that leaving me is the absolute last thing I could ever want you to do,” he moved quicker than she did and managed to pick her up and rush her into their bedroom.

Besides a few yours and mines whispered, there wasn’t much talking happening that night.

Day broke, and Derek woke up exactly how he was supposed to, with Stiles asleep right beside him. He pressed a kiss on her collarbone and just watched her until she woke up, “How did I get so lucky?”

Stiles stretched out and opened her eyes to the best view in the world, Derek Hale looking at her with love in his eyes – the dork, “I’m pretty sure I’m the lucky one, but we can agree to disagree my true mate.” His eyes flashed red in a way that told her she found a new kink.

“My true mate,” he echoed.

Stiles rolled over onto her side to look at him better, “We have a lot to talk about,” he hummed in agreement, “you wouldn’t believe what I went through,” his only answer was a trail of kissed he started placed on her chest, “but we have time.”

“Mmhm.” Derek agreed from his place on her stomach as he slowly went lower and lower.

“We have all the time.” Stiles may have lost herself for a little while, but she gained so much more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the poem that inspired me: 
> 
> “I was the type of person,   
> That held onto things too tight,  
> Unable to release my grip,   
> When it no longer felt right,  
> And although it gave be blisters,  
> And my fingers would all ache,  
> I always thought that holding on,   
> Was worth the pain it takes,  
> I used to think in losing things,  
> I’d lose part of me too,  
> That slowing I’d become someone,  
> My heart no longer knew,  
> Then one day something happened,  
> I dropped what I had once held dear,  
> But my soul became much lighter,   
> Instead of filled with fear,  
> And it taught my heart that some things,   
> Aren’t meant to last for long,  
> They arrive to teach you lessons,  
> And then continue on,  
> You don’t have to cling to people,  
> Who no longer make you smile,  
> Or do something you’ve come to hate,  
> If it isn’t worth your while,  
> That sometimes the thing you’re fighting for,   
> Isn’t worth the cost,   
> And not everything you ever lose,  
> Is bound to be a loss.”  
> ~e.h.
> 
> None of the chapters have been edited and that's probably very clear, but I've never completed a fic before so I'm going to ride this high a bit before I come back to fix the story.  
> Thank you so much for reading!


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